Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway is the final regular season race of the 2022 season.
NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs begin Sunday Sept. 4 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
No. 99 Freeway Insurance driver Daniel Suárez is looking for two things in Saturday night’s superspeedway race – stage victories and, as always, a race victory.
If he prevails on the Daytona highbanks it would mark his second victory of the season and vault him higher in the playoff seedings. He nearly won this race last year going for the lead on the backstretch on the final lap before he was turned by another car causing a multicar crash.
Suárez arrives at Daytona after finishing fifth on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on Sunday. The finish marked his sixth top-five finish of 2022 – a new career high.
He and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain have combined for three victories in 2022. Both should be two of the favorites Saturday night.
NBC will televise Saturday’s race in Daytona at 7 p.m. EDT.
Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet
With a playoff spot secured, what is your strategy Saturday night?
“We are going down there to win both stages and then win the race. That’s always our strategy. We want trophies. If you do that the points will always take care of themselves.”
Do you think this team can make a deep playoff run? Are you a championship team?
“I think we are. I think we are. The beautiful part is that we get stronger as we go. If you were asking me that question three months ago, I was going to tell you, man, we have work to do. We have the potential, but we have work to do. Two months ago I was starting to believe more. A month ago I would say, heck, yeah. Right now, of course we are here. We just keep getting stronger. I guarantee you in a month from now we’re going to be stronger than right now. We’re going to keep working.”
Suárez Isn’t The Only Driver in a Freeway Insurance Paint Scheme
Daniel Suárez isn’t the only Chevrolet driver sporting Freeway Insurance livery these days.
This fall, Freeway Insurance employees will begin driving company cars wrapped nearly identical to the No. 99 Camaro Trackhouse Racing fields for Suárez on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit.
The company plans to have about 80 vehicles in its fleet wrapped in the blue, white and green Freeway colors.
“I can’t wait to see one out on the road so we can have some fun,” laughed Suárez who has been with the 35-year-old company for several years. “It would be fun to pull up next to the driver at a traffic light and honk the horn. See if they recognize me!”
Maybe one day each of Freeway’s 525 offices across the country will have cars carry a NASCAR-inspired paint scheme in its parking lot.
Freeway Insurance, a division of Confie, is the largest independent personal lines agency in the U.S. With over one-third of high-risk drivers using non-standard auto insurance to regain independence, Freeway Insurance is the primary brand to assist individuals who have been denied insurance by offering products that can cover them. By breaking down barriers to getting back on the road, Freeway Insurance helps people get back on their feet — and become independent again.
No. 99 Trackhouse Team Roster
Founder: Justin Marks, Rocklin, California
President: Ty Norris, Sumter, South Carolina
Driver: Daniel Suárez, Monterrey Mexico
Crew Chief: Travis Mack, Louisville, Kentucky
Car Chief: Eddie D’Hondt Jr., East Islip, New York
Spotter: Frank Kimmel II, Jeffersonville, Indiana
Engine Builder: ECR Engines, Welcome, North Carolina
Engine Tuner: Jason Watkins, Ridgeway, Virginia
Fueler: Milan Rudanovic, Wantage, New Jersey
Front Tire Changer: Josh Bush, Lexington, North Carolina
Rear Tire Changer: Jerick Newsome, Memphis, Tennessee
Jackman: Josh Appleby, Athens, Alabama
Tire Carrier: Jeremy Kimbrough, Decatur, Georgia
Engineer: Jose R. Blasco-Figueroa, CDMX, Mexico (Mexico City, Mexico)
Engineer: Dustin Zacharyasz, Berea, Ohio
Mechanic: Griffin Rider, Lawson, Missouri
Mechanic: Alex Lacognata, Scarborough, Maine
Mechanic: Tony Barkman, Rio Vista, California
Truck Driver: Glenn Shano, Toronto, Canada
Truck Driver: Ben Prince, Denver, North Carolina
Notes of Interest
Suárez became the first driver from Mexico (Monterrey) to win in the NASCAR Cup Series on June 12, 2022 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
He became the fifth different driver all-time not from the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race; joining Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Earl Ross (Canada) and Mario Andretti (Italy).
In 2016, Suárez became the first Mexican driver to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, claiming three victories at Michigan, Dover and the championship finale at Homestead-Miami.
Suárez owns 84 Xfinity Series starts posting three wins, 33 top-five and 55 top-10 finishes.
Suárez owns 28 Camping World Truck Series starts posting a win (Phoenix, Nov. 11, 2016) 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes.
In the Cup Series, Suárez owns two poles (Pocono, July 16, 2018), (Kentucky, July 12, 2019.)
Trackhouse founder Justin Marks competed in six Cup Series races with a best finish of 12th-place in the 2018 Daytona 500. He made 35 starts in the Xfinity Series posting a win, three top-five and seven top-10s. He won the Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 13, 2016 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Marks competed in 39 races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series posting four top-10s and capturing two pole awards. He started eighth and finished 31st at Mid-Ohio on July 9, 2022.
He joined four co-drivers in winning the 2009 Rolex 24 in the GT division.
Before turning a wheel in 2021, Trackhouse Racing became one of the more popular teams in NASCAR when it announced GRAMMY® Award-winning global superstar Pitbull had become a partner. Not only is he an active partner on the Trackhouse executive team, but Pitbull also serves as a brand and philanthropic ambassador.
The Trackhouse team won the 2021 NASCAR Diversity Team Award.
Marks won the 2022 “Byrnsie Award” from Fox.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
